Don't they all

Last night marked President Barack Obama's eighth and final State of the Union address (full text here), a historic moment for the United States and a huge personal achievement for the embattled president, who has faced gun violence, terrorism, a flailing economy, and a hostile Congress during his two terms in office.

That hostile Congress was out in full colors last night, displaying a shocking level of disrespect for the Commander in Chief, and Speaker Ryan, who remained largely inert on the rostrum behind the president, was first in line — while even the most reluctant of his Republican fellows got up to applaud for lines supporting veterans, the "cancer moonshot," and American military strength, Ryan at one point actually twiddled his thumbs. His continual anxious shifting, on display to the nation, also included moves like crossing his legs, adjusting his jacket, fiddling with his ear, and wringing his hands. Perhaps he just really needed to tinkle.

He also — or, rather, his interns and staff — tweeted during the State of the Union with a line of commentary demonstrating his sheer level of disdain for the president.

He wasn't the only one. While the GOP isn't required to like the State of the Union, and is in fact encouraged to respond with a rebuttal — provided this year by South Carolina governor Nikki Haley — a modicum of respect is a reasonable expectation in the halls of Congress, and the behaviors seen on display last night were nothing short of childish.


Similarly, large swaths of the GOP chose to remain seated with increasingly bored expressions — some even appeared to nod off — during the speech, including during segments that would have provoked thunderous GOP applause had they come from a Republican president. Instead, they evidently so greatly feared appearing supportive of anything coming out of the president's mouth that they opted to sit still through the president's commentary on issues like better benefits and support for military and veterans, bootstrapping recommendations to work harder in order to achieve dreams, and improving conditions for business, all popular GOP topics. We couldn't expect them to stand up for the class war segment of the evening or their sound spanking on failure to act on Daesh and curbing Islamophobic sentiment, but come on, they couldn't rise for curing cancer?

His issue is he forfeits the benefit of doubt via his own behavior. I can't imaging he wasn't aware of the PR hit Bush took over his lack of focus on Katrina. Sure, a lot of the challenges he inherited but you mix up his rampant bigotry towards hispanics, the paper towel tossing, his insistence that this was the best response ever and to top it all off dismissing nearly 3,000 dead Americans on the eve of a massive storm...

Sorry, but the press isn't making this up or even being unfair. They're just reporting a train wreck for what it is.

this ^^^^^

CNN just enthusiastically called the November mid-term elections for the democrats...based on polling .....in September

I thought it was a pro trump hurricane party with free assault rifles, MacDonalds and dancing girls
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"Ryan at one point actually twiddled his thumbs. His continual anxious shifting, on display to the nation, also included moves like crossing his legs, adjusting his jacket, fiddling with his ear, and wringing his hands. Perhaps he just really needed to tinkle."

Your source is mocking Ryan because he couldn't sit still. That's some source of news, boy...

Paul Ryan is a softie, not a political attack dog. You wont hear that on whatever godforsaken place you got this crap.

FEMA isn't a first responder, isn't designed to be, can never be. The problem in PR was the same problem in New Orleans during Katrina. An amazingly incompetent and disastrously corrupt local government. LOCAL. The effectiveness of preventing these storms from being disasters is determined locally, not in Washington DC. Remember the footage from post Katrina, all those school buses underwater, that could/should have been used to get locals out of there ahead of time.

My favorite since he got elected. A college professor, who you would assume isn't an obviously deranged individual - shot himself to protest the Trump presidency. Shot himself.

Unless this is a hoax story, which you almost think it has to be.

Spot on, John.

New Orleans local officials certainly could have done a better job, as could have FEMA, but the primary reason Katrina was such a disaster was due to massive levy failure which is the responsibility of the federal government.

true about who constructed the levies. but no one should have been there. they had a weeks notice.
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Yes, I know God Loves Trump Pence and everyone else is godforsaken
When the republicans sat in Obama's last SOTU that was fine, but you try and play the race card when the dems sit during Trumps.
Unemployment has gone down less during Trump than during Obama, basic math from 10 to 5 is more than 5 to 4 but that is the greatest ever, all praise Trump
He's got you conned

I've read some of the whining class reports on this, things like how Hillary got things in gear by shaming Trump (USNS Comfort, etc) except that is not how it happened. The DOD / Navy ramped up hard for Puerto Rico (many after just finishing an 8+ month deployment) to got there and help that faltering (before the hurricane) state.

But facts don't matter because Trump forfeits any is what you are saying. But it's OK since it has become part of the allowable Zeitgeist ...



Thanks for completing the B side to my we ain'tgonnafixit thoughts :nailem:

You mean Congress's fault for decades underfunding that, right?

It's another failure mode but an obvious one and puts tremendous pressure on local officials trying to balance safety with undue burden on their constituents. The Gov called for disaster assistance in advance and FEMA dropped the ball for several days resulting in a delayed response.

As for Jim's image of flooded school buses, give me a break. It's a picture, not an analysis.

it’s not just a picture. there is a plan written down in new orleans, those buses are supposed to be used to evacuate the poor in event of a hurucane. they had several days to enact that plan, but couldn’t pull it off. once bobby jindal was governor, when the next major hurricane hit, everyone was out. the difference, was competence in local leadership.

not just a picture, it most certainly is an analysis. you just don’t happen to like what the analysis says, because you aren’t capable of saying that the democratic mayor and governor, were pathetic. sobwas fema by the way, i could have driven water down there faster than they got it there, no excuse for that either. see, i can admit when my side blows it.


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I'd note that I'm the only one who provided an example of what he asked for and was told to f--off....

typical democrat :rude: no surprise

drowning them might be a little harsh....I'm for deporting them

Again, I am not wasting the time wading into this here. We have rehashed the same arguments about models with Jim and I am not engaging. There are older posts about it, and I would just end up saying the same basic stuff.

Yes, you did post an example... You edited that post after just writing 'consensus, yawn' and admittedly, I didn't see it. After I posted, I saw your rant about government and then was off the forum the rest of the day.

You didn't post something to defend Jim's point anyways. A 2018 paper talking about the implications of 2deg C warming, which is a very reasonable outcome this century, is not a case where a projection was wrong.

Have a good day guys. May the continued circle-jerk be profound for you.... :cheers:

Pete, you posted an article attacking Ryan because during a (90 minute?) speech, he didn't sit absolutely still. Sorry, that's a new source that can never be trusted to report on the time of the sunrise.

geez get a grip...it's amusement...if you think you are going to solve the world's problems HERE....you really need some help :rollem:

Nothing to do with saving the world... I enjoy the banter, but not enough hours in the day to waste it here with you jamokes :-)
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Cherrypicking, read the next sentence

"Similarly, large swaths of the GOP chose to remain seated with increasingly bored expressions — some even appeared to nod off — during the speech, including during segments that would have provoked thunderous GOP applause had they come from a Republican president. Instead, they evidently so greatly feared appearing supportive of anything coming out of the president's mouth that they opted to sit still through the president's commentary on issues like better benefits and support for military and veterans, bootstrapping recommendations to work harder in order to achieve dreams, and improving conditions for business, all popular GOP topics."

Everybody can whatabout, we need to get Congress to work and not play political games, for Americans, not for people on the edges

So I guess the Dems. hate low Black unemployment and the Repubs. hate the military.

Agreed 100%, very well put, and both sides need to stop the BS and get back to work. It's not just one side, there's plenty of BS on the right.

Trump would be well advised not to poo-poo the death totals from the Puerto Rico hurricane, though it's fair to say that local leaders there have been corrupt and incompetent as well.

But here, CNN's Andrea Mitchell is desperately trying to bash FEMA, and the director (who seems very impressive and capable to me) isn't having any of it. She tries to use the death toll as evidence that FEMA failed. Does she think that FEMA's role is to prevent hurricanes from happening?

State/local government have, by far, the greater responsibility for preparing for hurricanes. If state/local leaders fail miserably, FEMA can't be expected to overcome that.

I think this guy gutted her like a fish, and she never said he had a point, all she did is go down the talking points. Her goal here, obviously, was to club Trump.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGQ_5SkjrX0

I know, that’s what Facebook is for
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Andrea Mitchell works for MSNBC.

The entire reason FEMA exists is to compensate for local government that's expected to break down.

Was there a single unreasonable question? Was anything unprofessional? I'm surprised you didn't say she was shrieking, unhinged, depraved and otherwise morally bankrupt.

"Andrea Mitchell works for MSNBC"

Correct, thanks.

"The entire reason FEMA exists is to compensate for local government that's expected to break down. "

That's correct. But a hurricane death count, doesn't indicate that FEMA failed. It indicates the local officials failed. Especially if the death count is exacerbated by a crumbling infrastructure and electrical grid, etc.

"Was there a single unreasonable question?"

Several.

asking how FEMA's efforts could be considered favorable, given the death count. That's on local officials.

She was wrong about who owns the electrical grid, she made a big deal out of the nothingburger about who is "certified" to do what, she made a big deal out of the nohtingburger (according to the director) that was 10M getting diverted from FEMA to ICE. The whole intervie wwas designed for Mitchell to make FEMA, and by extension Trump, to look bad. She didn't acknowledge a single thing he said. As soon as he shot down one point, she moved right on to the next. She never, ever, said "I stand corrected". or anything along those lines. Right down the Trump hit list.

"I'm surprised you didn't say she was shrieking, unhinged, depraved and otherwise morally bankrupt"

She wasn't shrieking, she was very calm. She was being an azzhole, but calm.

Actually Jim, I thought she asked questions that I had heard in the news, he answered them very well, she accepted his answers and moved on to the next question.
Is that she asked the questions the problem?
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The problem, is that every single question she asked, was designed to make FEMA look bad. They blew it in PR, how dare they say otherwise, 50% of their workers aren't certified, money taken from their budget and given to ICE, more about Puerto Rico.

Nothing about how noble the mission of FEMA is, nothing about what we cam do to help, nothing about the selfless heroes that work there, and all the people they help, nothing even about what can be done to make Florence as tams as possible.

Nothing.

Just a Trump hit piece, every syllable.

Nothing wrong with asking challenging questions. But how about an attaboy for what they are trying to do? How about apologizing for how wrong all of her presumptions were?

Pathetic.

What was the first sentence she spoke?
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One of the wettest we've ever seen from the standpoint of water".😂
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that's why they call her Stormy Daniels

“At least you got a nice boat out of the deal.”